GDPR has cut ad trackers in Europe but helped Google, study suggests

Oct 11, 2018 · techcrunch.com

An analysis of the impact of Europe’s new data protection framework, GDPR, on the adtech industry suggests the regulation has reduced the numbers of ad trackers that websites are hooking into EU visitors.

But it also implies that Google may have slightly increased its marketshare in the region — indicating the adtech giant could be winning at the compliance game at the expense of smaller advertising entities which the study also shows losing reach.

The research was carried out by the joint data privacy team of the anti-tracking browser Cliqz and the tracker blocker tool Ghostery (which merged via acquisition two years ago), using data from a service they jointly run, called WhoTracks.me — which they say is intended to provide greater transparency on the tracker market. (And therefore to encourage people to make use of their tracker blocker tools.)